In hot water: Egyptian pop star Sherine Abdel Wahab faces trial for suggesting drinking from Nile River would lead to illness

Egyptian pop diva Sherine Abdel Wahab has been referred to trial for suggesting at a concert that drinking from the Nile River could lead to illness.

The singer’s trial date has been set for December 23, judicial officials said, on charges of “harming the public interest”.

The announcement came after the Musicians Syndicate in Egypt said it would bar her from performing in the country after she made the remark at a concert in the United Arab Emirates.

Social media users had shared a video of a fan asking her to sing her tune “Have you drunk from the Nile”.

“You’d get bilharzia,” she said, referring to a waterborne parasite Egypt struggled for decades to combat.